The Basketball Africa League (BAL) Playoffs in South Africa have now been set after Al Ahli Tripoli (Libya) beat MBB (South Africa) 102-73 and APR (Rwanda) defeated Nairobi City Thunder (Kenya) 77-74 at the BAL Nile conference in Kigali Rwanda.
Al Ahli and APR will join BAL debutant Al Ittihad (Egypt), last year’s semi-finalist Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), 2022 BAL champion US Monastir (Tunisia), the defending champion Petro de Luanda (Angola), BAL debutant Kriol Star (Cape Verde) and FUS Rabat (Morocco) when the BAL Playoffs tip off at SunBet Arena in Pretoria on Friday June 6, 2025.
Jaylen Adams led Al Ahli with 28 points while shooting 9-of-15 from the floor. Teafale Lenard Jr. led MBB with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Pieter Prinsloo recorded 11points and five rebounds, but MBB could not overcome the well poised Libyan team that converted 50 percent of their shots.
Aliou Diarra got 22 points, 17 rebounds and eight blocks, and Youssoupha Ndoye added 18 points eight rebounds for APR, but it all came down to the last seconds and Obadia Noel’s (16 points) spectacular three for APR to get a win. Onyango Odero led City Thunder with 29 points, with Uchenna Iroegbu adding 16 points and William Davis II adding 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The BAL Playoffs and Finals will span four days and will be held in South Africa for the first time.
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